Building the ‘cheetah generation’

For four days, youths from some higher institutions gathered at the Engineering Theatre Hall of the Ikorodu Campus of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) to answer The call of entrepreneurship. The programme was organised by African Liberty Organisation for Development (ALOD) and the United States-based Language of Liberty Institute. JENNIFER UMEH (Federal Polytechnic, Offa) and TOYIN ALI (University of Ilorin) report.

AN entrepreneur and youth development expert, Sarah Kawala, has described entrepreneurship as the solution to poverty in Africa.

Kawala said African youths must be part of the “cheetah generation”, a term she used to describe young’ people who do not wait for the government to do things for them. If Africa must develop, she said, its youths must shoulder the responsibility for the continent’s salvation.

Kawala, a Kenyan, spoke at Liberty and Entrepreneurship Camp jointly organised by African Liberty Organisation for Development (ALOD) and the United States-based Language of Liberty Institute (LLI). The four-day event with the theme: The call of entrepreneurship, was held at the Engineering Theatre of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH).

One hundred students from some higher institutions attended the camp to learn the principles of free society, liberty and entrepreneurship. The objective of the event was to chart a course for peace, liberty and prosperity.

The programme was supported by Network for a free Society and Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.

The ALOD Executive Director, Adedayo Thomas, blamed Africa’s woes on the leaders’ addiction to socialism, saying the philosophy closed doors of economic prosperity on the continent. He said the practice of centralised authority and payment of social entitlements would take Africa to nowhere, noting: “Our political institutions in Africa don’t respond well to changes. It is unfortunate that many of us trust the government, whereas it is robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Thomas said principles of free society and liberty had brought prosperity and mutual respect to countries that put them into practice, adding that if people value their fellow humans, the society would achieve peace and development.

He told the participants not to look up to the government for their survival, but to see their salvation in their creativity.

Speaking on Theorising capitalism: An analysis of opportunities, Mr Ibrahim Anoba, a lecturer at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), said African countries must pull down obstructions at their borders, which were raised against free trade. This, he said, will bring about economic prosperity.

He said: “When people have freedom to trade, values would be created and mutual respect would be earned.”

Anoba added that closed borders would engender closed opportunities for the young entrepreneurs to create wealth, wondering why there are trade borders when trade itself is peaceful.

The programme was supported by Network for a free Society and Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.

The ALOD Executive Director, Adedayo Thomas, blamed Africa’s woes on the leaders’ addiction to socialism, saying the philosophy closed doors of economic prosperity on the continent. He said the practice of centralised authority and payment of social entitlements would take Africa to nowhere, noting: “Our political institutions in Africa don’t respond well to changes. It is unfortunate that many of us trust the government, whereas it is robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Thomas said principles of free society and liberty had brought prosperity and mutual respect to countries that put them into practice, adding that if people value their fellow humans, the society would achieve peace and development.

He told the participants not to look up to the government for their survival, but to see their salvation in their creativity.

Speaking on Theorising capitalism: An analysis of opportunities, Mr Ibrahim Anoba, a lecturer at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), said African countries must pull down obstructions at their borders, which were raised against free trade. This, he said, will bring about economic prosperity.

He said: “When people have freedom to trade, values would be created and mutual respect would be earned.”

Anoba added that closed borders would engender closed opportunities for the young entrepreneurs to create wealth, wondering why there are trade borders when trade itself is peaceful.